Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance Department Wednesday arrested an additional tahasildar and panchayat executive officer (PEO) for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets (DA) to their known sources of income.
Jitendra Kumar Panda, additional tahasildar of Baranga in Cuttack district, and Jitendra Kumar Jena, PEO of Bancho GP in Keonjhar district, have been put under arrest after detecting huge assets from them during raids conducted on Tuesday, a vigilance officer said.
During the raids on the properties of the additional tahasildar and PEO, the vigilance officers have detected disproportionate assets, including two multi-storeyed buildings, one 2 BHK flat in Bhubaneswar, one multi-storeyed building at Khurda town, four high-value plots, he said.
Besides, cash Rs 73.66 lakh, 560 grams of gold, deposits of Rs 36.97 lakh, and one four-wheeler were also found from Panda.
Similarly, the anti-corruption wing officers unearthed assets, including one triple-storeyed building, one double-storeyed market complex worth over Rs 1.34 crore, six plots, 100 grams of gold, deposits worth Rs 34.06 lakh, and one four-wheeler.
The vigilance registered two separate cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against the two officers and arrested them on Wednesday, he said.
Meanwhile, the Vigilance Department has also arrested Fanindra Kumar Sahu, former managing director of Jamankira Large-sized Agricultural Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (LAMPCS) Ltd, Sambalpur, for allegedly misappropriating public funds worth Rs 79.28 lakh.
Sahu allegedly collected loan repayment amounts directly from local farmers but intentionally omitted these entries from the Day Book (the primary accounting record). To hide the missing funds, he reportedly submitted false repayment vouchers to the bank. These documents were bolstered by fake seals to mimic official bank verification, the officer added.
PTI
